FEBRUARY 19, 2020, Dallas, Texas set the scene for another edition of the Fight 2 Win promotion, the busiest professional platform in our sport. The 164th edition of F2W showed a lot of promise by producing a giant card with tons of interesting matches, the majority of which with the gi (!). These included the always entertaining Gabriel Sousa (ZR Team) x Gianni Grippo (Alliance) as well as Pedro Veras, Fabrício Barbarotti, Guilherme Rocha, and other rising stars of jiu-jitsu,
Equally enticing were the no-gi matches of Pedro Rocha x Oliver Taza, Manuel Ribamar x Dante Leon and the main event Yuri Simões x Vagner Rocha. Although most bouts delivered the entertainment we had hoped for and a lot of submissions, a sequence of poor judges’ decisions did overshadow a few of the performances on display. But first, the event’s stats:
27 Recorded Adult BJJ Matches 12 submissions (44% sub rate)
– 18 Gi Matches: 10 submissions (55% sub rate)
– 9 No-Gi Matches: 2 submissions (22% sub rate)
PERFORMANCES OF THE NIGHT
Pedro Rocha had a tough match against Danaher Death Squad black belt Oliver Taza. Although lighter than Rocha, Oliver was looked at as the favorite here given the Canadian’s strong leg-lock game and outstanding record. Unphased by Taza’s reputation, Rocha imposed his own game, heavy with the head-hunting from a passing position, trying to expose Taza’s neck to his powerful guillotine. Rocha’s recipe paid dividends in the end by getting the approval of the judges after a performance that saw him on the offensive for most of the bout.
Equally entertaining was Pedro Veras of the Sharpen Iron Academy (SIA) who had a dominant performance over Rodrigo Lopes of the Double Five Academy, taking home the win with a beautiful choke.
BAD DECISIONS DECIDE MAIN AND CO-MAIN EVENTS
Many jiu-jitsu fans were excited to watch the two main event matches set forth by F2W 164, which featured Canadian GFT veteran Dante Leon x Manuel Ribamar and 2x ADCC champion Yuri Simões x Fight Sports ace Vagner Rocha.
Dante x Ribamar
For the co-main event, we saw Ribamar play a conservative game against the smaller Leon. Giving up a visible size advantage to Manuel, Dante trusted his speed and offensive output to win, being the aggressor for most of the match. First trying to take “Riba” down – which he did successfully but finished outside the mat. The accomplished Brazilian player, on the other hand, tried to play the waiting game, backpedaling throughout most of the stand-up exchanges, with the exception of a few faints and one shot that landed him on the wrong end of Leon’s guillotine.
By the 40 second mark, Dante understood neither athlete was getting anywhere standing and decided to pull guard. Once again he looked to move forward, and attempting a sweep. Ribamar ran away from the attempt and after another scramble, the match ended with a shallow guillotine attempt by the GFT athlete. Although not the barn-burner we had hoped for, Dante appeared – to us – to be the aggressor and the one looking to advance positions. The referees thought otherwise and gave the victory to Ribamar.
Simões x Rocha
If there was reasonable ground to disagree with the judges’ decision in the co-main event, the main event appeared even more clear cut to us.
Granted, Vagner Rocha was the smaller of the two competitors, likely by 20 lbs, a size disadvantage that should be considered when assessing the match – even though he did not apear to be in any type of strength disadvantage in the grappling exchanges.
Nevertheless, Yuri Simões looked to advance positions throughout the match against Vagner’s more defensively sound approach. Rocha went through his trademark moves: the mercy grips, chest pushes, and heavy collar ties, none of which phased Yuri. In return, the Rio de Janeiro native did try a clear single leg and arm-drag attempts – both defended by Vagner.
With almost 4 minutes to go in the match, unable to pierce through Vagner Rocha’s square stance, Yuri opted to pull guard and force Rocha to engage on the ground. The Fight Sports veteran looked to stifle Yuri’s hips while also going for another trademark move of his, the hand-on-throat maneuver. Although “nasty”, this did nothing to advance the match in the way of a guard pass or a submission. Yuri, on the other hand, tried to sweep every time he broke free from Rocha’s hip control, attempting 2 sweeps and a heel-hook, which Rocha defended well.
When the match ended, we saw no other victor than Simões here, a feeling confirmed by our stats of the match. The judges saw it the other way around, unanimously, no less. Overall the match had entertaining moments and we will, hopefully, see these two go at it again sometime soon.
NOGI MATCH:
– Vagner Rocha DEF. Yuri Simoes via decision
NOGI MATCH:
– Manuel Ribamar DEF. Dante Leon via split decision
GI MATCH:
– Gabriel Sousa DEF. Gianni Grippo via decision
NOGI MATCH:
– Pedro Rocha DEF. Oliver Taza via decision
GI MATCH:
– Andre Gomes DEF. Jorge Perez via bicep crusher
GI MATCH:
– Jinho Kim DEF. Jason Gavenda via bow and arrow choke
GI MATCH:
– Marc Botindari DEF. Stephen Hall via katagatame
GI MATCH:
– Mike Anderson DEF. Wally Thompson via choke from the back
GI MATCH:
– Loronz Marion DEF. Ayuba Ndiaye via toe hold
GI MATCH:
– Robby Malof DEF: Vinicius Garcia via decision
GI MATCH:
– Pedro Veras DEF. Rodrigo Lopes via cachecol choke
GI MATCH:
– Travis Clark DEF. Chad Fields via decision
NOGI MATCH:
– Michael Torres DEF. Angel Torres via calf slicer
GI MATCH:
– Fabrício Barbarotti DEF. Guilherme Rocha via split decision
GI MATCH:
– Henrique Rossi DEF. Justin Ordinario via decision
GI MATCH:
– Diego Santana DEF. BJ Nelson via decision
GI MATCH:
– Alan Shebaro DEF. Garrett Andrews via decision
GI MATCH:
– Zach Cothren DEF. Mark Francescutti via collar choke
GI MATCH:
– Christopher Shaw DEF. Michael Gonzalez via leglock
GI MATCH:
– Italo Lima Costa vs Daniel Calvert via triangle-armbar
NOGI Match:
– Bradley Schneider DEF. Kemoy Anderson via decision
NOGI Match:
– Adam Bradley DEF. Nilo Burgener via decision
NOGI Match:
– Keaton Standridge DEF. Conrad Duran via decision
NOGI Match:
– Dylan Martinez DEF. JB Huskinson via split decision
GI MATCH:
– Jonathan Thomas DEF. Stephen Shnayderman via split decision
NOGI Match:
– Tarean Byars DEF. Eric Curry via RNC
GI MATCH:
– Daryl Brown DEF. Austyn McNeil via decision
